Sport fishing is a very popular recreational pastime and is usually performed in a very relaxed manner. Often, a person fishing will sit back and rest or generally socialize with other people that might be fishing with him, and not pay close attention to the fishing rod. It is, however, necessary to know when one is fishing, whether a fish is biting at the hook or has even been caught by the hook. This is typically done in one of two ways. The person fishing can hold onto the fishing rod and through tactile senses tell when the fishing rod moves, or alternatively the person can hear when the fishing line suddenly starts to unravel from the fishing rod. Often, a person fishing does not want to make the effort to continuously hold the fishing rod. Further, if a fish is only nibbling at the hook the line might not be unraveling noticeably. It is very common for a person fishing to merely sit back at a distance from the fishing rod and wait for some sort of indication that a fish is nibbling on the hook or has been fully caught on the hook. It would therefore be desirable to be able to tell from a distance when a fish is nibbling at or is caught on the hook.
It is also possible that a person fishing might have more than one fishing rod in use at any given time depending on local laws or regulations. This may also occur when a person is fishing with someone such as a child who might need assistance with a fishing rod. In any event, it may be desirable for a person to have a means to monitor other fishing rods to determine whether a fish is perhaps nibbling or has been caught on the hook.
It is useful to be able to tell when a fish might be nibbling at a hook as opposed to actually being caught on a hook, because the actions required to ultimately land a fish that might be nibbling at a hook and one that is actually caught on the hook are quite different. A fish that is nibbling on a hook may be ultimately hooked by pulling on the fishing line slightly to further attract the fish or to actually hook the fish. If it is believed that a fish has actually been caught on the hook, then the line is either reeled in quickly or is allowed to be pulled out by the fish, at the discretion of the person fishing. In any event, it is necessary to treat each type of situation separately. It is therefore desirable to be able to tell when a fish is nibbling at a hook and also when a fish has been caught on the hook.
Another situation wherein it is possibly even more desirable to be able to tell when a fish is either nibbling at a line or actually caught on the hook is during night fishing. It is difficult, however, to monitor one or more fishing lines, especially remotely, in the dark. It is especially difficult in the dark to discern whether a fish is nibbling at the hook of the line or whether the fish has been caught. It would be desirable to be able to remotely monitor one or more fishing rods in the dark.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an indicating device that permits a person fishing to remotely monitor the status of the fishing rod.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a monitoring device to allow a person fishing to remotely monitor a plurality of fishing rods.
It is yet another object of the present invention to allow a person fishing to remotely discern between a fish nibbling at the hook of the fishing line and a fish caught on the hook of the fishing line.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a monitoring device to allow a person fishing to monitor the status of a fishing rod in the dark.